


...And the Price of Magic

by GrumpyJenn



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Magic, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-04 12:44:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5334569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe this is why we haven't seen Cassie do any more magic...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Struckk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Struckk/gifts), [AerynB](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerynB/gifts), [luladannys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luladannys/gifts).



_Oh, not now,_ Cassie thought, _I can’t control, please not now_ …

But now it was, it had to be, or she and Jake were done for.

They had been locked in a stone cell in the basement of an abandoned building, and water was pouring into the hallway outside the cell. They hadn’t been able to raise Jenkins to bring the Back Door to them. And they were both in handcuffs, with Jacob trying to open the door by running up against it, and the stresses on his shoulder would cause it to bruise or even break if he hit it just right, and…

She had to stop him, and there was only one way.

“Jake.” He ignored her and set himself up to make another run at the door. She stepped in front of him and he stopped in his tracks. “Jake. Let me. Please.”

“Get out of the way, Cassie.” His voice was doing that quiet thing that meant he was mad, not at her but at the situation, but not upset enough to go all Okie.

“I can do this,” Cassie told him, and flinched back as he lashed out, shouting at her.

“How? Been takin’ lock pickin’ lessons from Jones? We don’t have _time_ for this, Cass!”

The country voice. Maybe he really _was_ scared. She had to try.

She gulped. “We do.” She said it softly. “I can do it, Jake…” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I can get us out of here. If you can trust me. Because I don’t know how it’ll affect me, I haven’t practiced enough, and I… I’ll probably need your help, and I…” She trailed off as she watched the grim look on his face relax into something a little more hopeful.

“Stop.” Jake’s voice was equally quiet. “What do you need me to do?”

Cassie couldn’t tell if he actually trusted her now, or if he was scared enough – for her or for himself – to follow along anyway. So she took another deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating on the little blue spark of magic she could see in her mind.

This might really hurt. But it had to be done.

“Just… catch me if I fall?” He gave her a brief nod.

Focusing on the blue energy, Cassie visualized it popping the locks on the cuffs holding her hands painfully behind her back.

 _the pain, oh god_  
_the pain it hurt_  
 _like nothing she’d_  
 _ever felt before_  

But the locks popped open, and Cassandra ignored the pounding in her head – and the burn marks on her wrists – as she brought her freed hands out in front of her and wiggled her fingers at Jacob.

 

<~~~~>

 

 

Jake wasn’t at all sure Cassie could get them out of this. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; she’d earned that back months ago.

He’d just never managed to tell her that.

So he didn’t really have a choice, because he didn’t have a way out, and if Cassie did, well… it had to be done, no matter if he really thought she could manage it or not. He refused to hurt her further by visibly doubting her; that hadn’t been his intention in the first place.

But a feeling of dread was centered in his stomach as he watched her face. It had gone white as bleached bone, and Jake could see her freckles in sharp relief against the pale skin. When she brought her freed hands out in front of her and gave him a little wave, he expected a feeling of relief.

There was none. Because she was clearly hurting, that little line between her brows deeper than it usually was when she did math, and Jake felt himself going cold when he spotted the burns on her wrists. “Cass… your wrists, I…”

Jake was swamped by guilt; it was his job to protect them, the other Librarians, and he should have been able to _do_ this, to spare her the pain, she wasn’t strong, and… but she was talking.

“I know,” Cassie said miserably, “And I’m not sure I can undo yours without burning you too.” She looked both sad and apprehensive, as though she thought he might be angry.

But he wasn’t. Not with her, anyway.

“Do what you gotta do, honey,” Jake heard himself say hoarsely, and turned his back to give her access to the cuffs.

“I’m sorry, Jake.” It was a whisper, and then the cuffs got very warm – but not hot enough to burn – and then they were gone, clattering to the floor. Jake spun around just in time to grab Cassie by the shoulders as she swayed slightly.

There were no burns on his wrists but the ones on hers looked worse than they had, almost as dark as the freckles against the colorless skin. “You can’t do this, darlin’, you can’t take any more.”

“Have to,” Cassie said faintly, and Jacob swore.

“At least rest a bit first. Come on, Cassie, if you pass out you’ll be no use at all!” Jake found that he was shaking her in an effort to get his point across, and cursed at himself again, pulling her into a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, come on, just take a little break.” He gently bullied her into leaning into him; the water was starting to seep under the door and he didn’t want her to catch a chill by sitting on the floor.

In a few minutes, she roused a bit, pulling away to look him in the face. “Thanks,” she said, her voice stronger than it had been. “Now I’d better open the door before the water gets too high.”

He studied her face. A tint bit of color had leeched back into it, but the marks circling her wrists still looked terribly painful and her eyes were the tiniest bit unfocused.

Still, it was the only way.

Cassie took a deep breath and turned in his supporting arms, and Jake watched as a tiny blue spark of light made its way from her outstretched hands to the heavy iron lock on the door. As it disappeared into the keyhole, he felt Cassie flinch.

The lock had no sooner clicked open than Cassie went limp and fell through his hands like water; he barely caught her before she hit the ground.

Her pulse was far too fast, her breathing shallow, and blood trickled from her nose.

So Jacob gathered her up, yanked the door open with his free hand, and ran for a clear spot to contact Jenkins.

They needed the Back Door, and they needed it right now.

Or Cassie might not survive.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“You are _not_ takin’ her to the hospital!”

Jake was feeling very alone; the rest of the team was against him, and he was really all Cassie had. She wouldn’t want to go to the hospital, he knew that much. She’d resist if she was awake, and Jake didn’t think he could stand it if she woke up in the hospital, realizing that they had left her there.

She’d feel abandoned, and from what Jake knew, Cassie had had more than enough of that in her life.

He yanked his attention away from the circular thoughts and to the people arguing across the room.

“Much as it pains me to admit it,” Jenkins was saying, “Mr. Stone is correct. Miss Cillian would prefer not to be left in a hospital; they are able to do nothing for her there.”

“But…” Baird began, and then they all snapped their heads around to look in the direction of the weak voice coming from the sofa.

“Painkillers and pity,” Cassie said softly, with tears in her voice but not on her face, and at that even Ezekiel stopped talking and stood there with his mouth open, looking – surprisingly – ashamed of himself.

Jake half lifted Cassie and sat on the couch, settling her head in his lap so he could smooth the tangled hair back from her face. “What d’you mean, darlin’?” He could hear how hoarse his voice was.

The lump in his throat made sure of that.

“I…” Cassie seemed confused and upset, and in his concern Jake forgot all about the rest of the team; he didn’t even notice when they left the room. Or when they paused in the doorway.

“I got you, honey. Tell me.” Gently rubbing her temples, Jake just watched Cassie’s face while she got hold of herself. _Her color’s better,_ he thought, _not that it could have gotten much worse. If I can just get her to talk to me, I think she’ll be okay… as okay as she ever is_ …

“If you had let Eve take me to the hospital,” Cassie started, her voice stronger with each word until she looked positively indignant, even angry, “They’d take one look and think ‘brain tumor, size of a grape, nothing we can do but drug her up so it doesn’t hurt so much’. I… they don’t understand…” She trailed off and Jake took up the thread.

“They don’t get that you want to be thought of as a person, not a… a case study. You’re still kickin’, and you want them to recognize that,” he offered, and she smiled tremulously up at him, then struggled to sit up. Regretfully, Jake slid one hand under the back of her neck and helped. “Don’t worry,” he said to the trio at the door as he looked up and spotted them. “I got this.”

“It’s okay,” Cassie said. “I’ll be all right.” Jenkins nodded and left, pulling Ezekiel along with him when the thief showed no signs of leaving.

“Cass…” Baird began, looking as though she had realized something about herself she didn’t much like. “Cassandra, I didn’t mean—“

“I know. You haven’t done that, not lately, anyway.” Jake watched as Cassie managed a smile. “Go on, Eve.”

 

<~~~~~>

 

After Eve left, Cassie snuggled into Jake’s supporting arm and sighed. This would be the hard part.

“Jake?”

“Hmm?”

“I… thanks.” She smiled up at him. “For understanding what I meant. The rest of them try, but… you and Mr. Jenkins are really the only people in the whole world who see… _me_.”

“You just told Baird she wasn’t doing that anymore. Seeing your illness first and you after.”

“She’s doing it less than she was. I used to be just a… well, an asset to be protected to her. But you…” Here Cassie took a deep breath, because she thought he might get _that_ look on his face… she hated that look, the one that said he’d never trust her. “Even when I – with the Crown – even then you saw me as a person first and a—“

“Don’t.” His voice sounded rough and tense, even as he turned to look her in the face. “I know I didn’t say, but I… _Jesus_ , Cass, why d’you think I went drinkin’ after the shapeshif—“

 _He_ trusts _me_ , Cassie thought in wonder, hardly believing it, _he was upset because he thought someone he_ trusts _attacked him_ , and then she stopped thinking entirely and just kissed him.

Jake didn’t respond to the kiss, but then his hands slipped off her shoulders and down to her wrists, and the pain was so great that she cried out and wrenched away.

“Oh. God, Cassie, I’m so sorry, darlin’, I forgot, let me see them,” Jake was babbling ,so worried he had hurt the burned wrists further, when all she cared about was that he hadn’t seemed to want to kiss her.

Either he didn’t want her, or she’d been wrong and he didn’t trust her.

Even after all this time.

“Don’t,” she managed to choke out. Then she let out one sob as she felt him take one hand and turn it over gently to inspect the injuries, blowing lightly on the burns to cool them.

He spoke in a soothing murmur. “Shh… it’s okay, sweetheart, I’m sorry, come on, honey, don’t cry, let’s go get some salve and I’ll treat the…” He trailed off and then his voice was back, but stronger, rougher, maybe even a little angry. “Why’d you take all this on yourself, Cassie? I remember what you did, the handcuffs coming off should’ve burned me but you took it all back on yourself, didn’t you?” His hands took her shoulders again and he gave her a little shake. “Cassie. Why?”

"I d-didn't  want to hurt you. Not again." She couldn’t meet his eyes; she didn’t want to see the anger, the disgust, whatever it was. But he took her chin in one hand and tilted her face up.

And all she saw was concern, worry.

“I… why didn’t you kiss me back?” Complete non-sequitur, but she really did want to know.

Jake gave a little chuckle, but Cassie was too upset to notice as she continued. “Jacob, I… am I really that unattractive?”

“Not at all, sweetheart,” he said quietly as he thumbed away a tear.

_Damn. That means…_

“Then you still don’t t-trust me,” Cassie said, with a sort of sad conviction.

“That ain’t it either.” Was he actually _blushing_? “Darlin’, I _do_ trust you. More’n just about anyone. I just... after the Prince Charming bit, and that Italian woman… well, I thought… I thought you liked girls.”

He _was_ blushing.

It was adorable.

“I can’t like both?” And then she kissed him again.

And this time he kissed her back.


End file.
